Why I Left Corporate & Why I Came Back

Why I Left Corporate — And Why I Came Back Differently

For many years my career followed a path that felt very straight forward and clear. I was an Account Manager within a fast-paced, high-performing team, in a state of constant learning, growing, always working towards the next KPI and sales quarter. It was structured and predictable in a reassuring way, and there was a quiet confidence and sense of control in knowing what things were and where they were heading.

And yet, alongside that, there was a quiet but persistent pull, a lingering curiosity.

It wasn’t that anything was particularly wrong — I just found myself increasingly drawn to something different. Over the years leading to that point, I had developed an innate interest in movement and wellness, and in my own time, the right time, I discovered the wonderful practice of Yoga. A practice that became far more than just a way to unwind and move. Returning my mat each morning became something I genuinely looked forward to. The energy and grounding I found within the practice, the sense of connection with myself in the stillness and the way it reflected how I showed up in life off the mat — what started as a simple daily ritual gradually became a way of navigating life with greater awareness, intention, and presence.

Eventually, that curiosity turned into a simple question I couldn’t quite put down: what would happen if I explored this more fully?

So I did.

Leaving corporate at that point didn’t feel like walking away from something — it felt more like stepping toward something I wanted to understand on a deeper level and needed to fully immerse myself in. I made the decision to purchase and run a barre studio, not because I had everything figured out, but because I needed to try. I wanted to understand and feel what it would be like to build something of my own, and to follow that passion as far as it would take me.

That experience gave me more than I could've ever expected. Running a business is deeply personal — you're responsible for the big picture and the smallest of details at the very same time. It stretched me in ways I hadn't experienced before, and it taught me more than I could have imagined about people, consistency, and what it takes to build and nurture a community.

Perhaps more importantly, it gave me the opportunity to understand myself differently. For the first time, I began to understand what energised me, what challenged me, where my strengths naturally emerged, and where I felt most fulfilled. The experience expanded my perspective on work and ambition and helped me realise that neither are as one-dimensional as we sometimes assume.

It also reinforced something I've come to believe about careers more broadly: the greatest discoveries often come to us by stepping outside what feels familiar.

And it was somewhere within that process of discovery that I began to recognise something unexpected.

The more I immersed myself in building a business and community of my own, the more I came to appreciate the different qualities that various environments can offer. I loved the creativity, autonomy, and connection that came from creating something from the ground up. I also found myself missing the energy of collaboration, the exchange of ideas, and the sense of momentum that comes from working alongside others towards a shared goal in a more structured environment.

Then came the beautiful shift towards recognizing these things don’t need to exist in opposition to one another.

For a long time, I had viewed a credible career as choosing one particular path. Yet my experience taught me that work can be far more nuanced and textured than that. Rather than choosing one identity over another, I became interested in creating a working life that incorporated equal parts of each world I valued.

Today, L'Atelier Flow continues to evolve through wellness experiences, corporate movement sessions, writing, and community. Today, my working life draws from several different worlds. L'Atelier Flow continues to evolve, while I also contribute within a corporate environment and remain connected to the studio community, the space where my curiosity first sparked. Each environment allowing me to contribute differently and together creating a working life that feels richer than any single role could provide.

What has changed most, however, is my relationship with work itself. I'm much more aware of what energises me, where I do my best thinking, how I like to contribute, and the conditions that allow me to thrive. I've become less focused on following a prescribed path and more interested in building a portfolio career that reflects my values, interests, and evolving priorities.

A perspective shaped through curiosity, experimentation, unexpected opportunities, and the willingness to step into unfamiliar territory. What can appear to be a detour often becomes the very thing that shapes the next chapter.

Looking back, leaving the corporate world wasn't about walking away from one version of myself and returning to another. It was about creating space to grow, explore, and discover new dimensions of who I could be.

For now, my career feels less like a ladder and more like a collection of interconnected experiences — each informing the other in meaningful ways.

And perhaps that's the beauty of modern working life. We don't always have to choose a single path. Sometimes we have the opportunity to create one that is uniquely our own.

What does yours look like?